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The Ledgers of Baldr: 4E472, Winter
Actions: Ashelani: The unprovoked attack on the Ashelani homeland was cause for great fear throughout the Hive. Though the allies of the Ashelani had arrived just in time to prevent catastrophe, Queen Torol expressed disapproval to the hivemother for the judgement of a daughter of Queen Scholus. Ashamed that Len-Eir's attempt at a lasting peace had failed, and terrified for her life during the dwarven attack on the research center, Queen Scholus abdicates her role as strategist, realizing that brutality is an area of expertise for Queen Torol. Her blighted sister immediately begins birthing clutches of Ashelani warriors, from flammenwormers to bombhoppers to carcinoborn shock troops, and commands Queen Scholus to do the same. (Raise Armies x3, -300 wealth for a +10 bonus overall) For Queen Torol, it was not the dwarves of Stavengar that were the true enemy. In her eyes, Mu'lakkans were the vilest of creatures that walked the surface. They were proud, greedy, and unthinking religious zealots. She had sent her daughter, Len-Toroan, to save them, to ask them to share the burden of protecting the world. In response, they ensnared Len-Toroan and condemned Legaros to death. To the Queen birthed to contain the Hunger, this was the ultimate sin. The Mu'lakkans then sought to help the short-not-foods, who betrayed the Hive even after they had been spared, and in doing so slaid Len-Cartos, her favorite daughter. None could move the nautilisks as she could. Vengeance would be had. To command the new armies of the hive, the Queen Torol births the first protoqueen of the Carcinoborn. Bigger, stronger, and more durable than her sisters, this protoqueen would be both a commander and front line fighter, leading the Ashelani hordes into the breaches made by the bombhopper artillery. This one in particular, named Den-El'maut after the Ashik word for death, is a truly terrifying warrior. Her carapace is as thick as a nautilisk's beak and covered in large spines, while her legs are more like those of her carcino ancestors. Her left arm is a massive claw, while her right has been replaced with a chitinous blade lined with a mithril edge. All the while her red eyes seem to glow with a devious malevolence that exceeds that even of her mother. Upon her spawning, Den-Elmaut is sent with three new broods of warriors to reinforce the Derultians in Stavengar. Vengeance will be had, but only if the Hive is meticulous and precise. Meanwhile, Queen Scholus is given the task of dealing with the Mu'lakkan navies. As it stands, they are far too powerful for the nautilisks to fight outright. The skyships outmaneuver, outrun and outgun the Ashelani navy. However, if combat were to take place on land, the fight is much more even. As such, Queen Scholus begins developing a new resinous casing for the nautilisks that will allow them to carry living cargo at much greater depths without them exploding. This should allow them to bypass other navies and keep the fights on land. (TECH TO WIN THE WAR GOGOGO) Hall of the Five: Gojac and Garma build boats. They sink a lot of money into it. Really nothing else interesting about it, so I won't waste your time. (1 & 2: navies, spend 120 gold total.) Rucahn continues to babble at auctioneer speed about the space ship. Kellus suspects that Rucahn isn't just info-dumping like he usually does; Rucahn is really excited about this whole thing. Kellus listens patiently for anything that might help defeat enemies of the state. (3 & 4: Military tech) Mu'lakka: Shipyards on the Manukan frontier kick into overdrive to produce the ships needed to deal with the threat presented by Derult. It's really not that exciting. (1-4: Raise navy) Stavengar: The dwarves raise 4 legions worth of troops. This news is shocking to the entire empire, as it seems like not enough, but the call goes out for only 4 anyway. The Senate spreads the call for soldiers in every city and town ever. THE DWARVES SHALL ANSWER THE CALL! (+5 investment on one of the rolls). Derult: GE001 is in a cold fury after he hears of declining output on the home front. Central responds by redoubling manufacturing efforts. For the first time, the call goes out to the female Derultians to take on shifts at a series of new factories going up in Irontown. Female Derultians are not as uncommon as most outsiders would think. Because they are almost never involved in military or trade operations, very few polished or rusted women have ever been abroad. They are traditionally built for precision- or bureaucracy- oriented work. Nobody exactly knows why Central assigns these robots to have feminine features, but so it has always been. The call is answered; many outlying towns are now completely abandoned as the new factories rise (Military Tech x4). Kaz'ur: Jasura's request for more troops comes from the front light shortly after the battle at the Eir-i. While they had won the day, and their allies in Derult made short work of their dwarven foes, the Mu'lakkan navies still posed a large threat to the military coalition's forces. (1-3, Raise Armies) In the meantime, the Nameless One continues working alongside Thaamira, attempting to unlock the secrets of the mystical relic they possess. (4, Military Tech) Legaros: New Haven arrives off the southern coast of Ardunne, in order to take up the offer of the Ashelani to settle the displaced Legarosan nation in the unclaimed land of the area (Expansion 1+2) The new lands have many different varieties off lumber, increasing the demand for luxury wood products and overall improving the mood of the many carpenters aboard New Haven. (Income 3) The increased conflict in the region convinces many that a stronger defense force is necessary. Unfortunately, widespread illiteracy causes most of the volunteers to join the Navy by mistake. (Raise Navy 4) Results: The Ashelani Dominion: 12, 12, 16, 19 Deep within the gold mines on your northern border, Mu’lakkan slaves are forced to toil away at double the usual pace to extract mithral from the frozen rocks below the tundra to be fashioned into armor for your warriors. Army production during this hectic time has been astoundingly successful, and your people are mustered with a surprising efficiency that impresses the delegates from Kaz’ur considerably (3 armies raised, -30 income). Maintaining Ashik confidence during this war will prove to be instrumental—it was their last-minute aid, after all, that bolstered the Ashelani defense at the Eir-i. The counter-push, by now, is underway. The massive fortress bridge has been retaken by your forces, and dwarfen advance bridges that had been set up along the fissure have fallen quickly and decisively as well. Polished Derultian delegates in trimmed black suits matter-of-factly drone on about radio transmissions from their forces in Stavengar. They posit that victory in the coming Ardunne conflict is 53% assured. Meanwhile, your nautilisks have been fully revamped and can now dive to depths unheard of previously. There are still problems, though-- their glassy eye casings cracking at deeper water levels. This will take some time to correct (1 more success needed). The Halls of the Five: 13, 12, 17, 5 Two navies are mustered and loaded up with firebears and paper men. Garma, Kellus, and even Gojac have all three agreed to finally take measures to enter the war—hoping to launch a naval assault and bring the Ashelani coalition forces to their knees. Meanwhile, Rucahn keeps on babbling to Kellus. “The coins, you know, that’s how you can tell that they’re close by. They can’t control it, of course—if they could, they wouldn’t have it appear at all.” “Go back to the part you said earlier,” Kellus says, “The bit about the temperature.” Rucahn transitions to a new topic mid-sentence, like a machine. “Global temperatures on our planet are dropping three degrees per month due to the blocked sunlight. Temperature should ultimately stabilize within fifty years or so, but, then again, I can’t see the future. Most of the north and south seas, I imagine, will be completely frozen over, and the lands nearer to the equator will be mostly just taiga.” Unconcerning news for Kellus, who was immortal, although the rest of the world might have some objections to Rucahn’s analysis. “Certainly, with Garma’s time magic, one could speed up this process in certain areas?” “That process would undoubtedly have severe temporal repercussions, Kellus.” The Five had artificially sped up and slowed down time of geographic regions before, but time magic had a way of getting out of hand very quickly. Areas by the coastline that had their timelines sped up a few years to aid in repairs after massive tidal waves in the 3rd Age soon found themselves cartwheeling centuries ahead of the rest of the world. Garma had reversed a lot of this, but there was still a particularly dangerous river in Liosa that aged any traveler trying to cross it by thirty years. “Let’s have her do it anyway,” the Alterer says. “I’m pretty sure that she can fix whatever issues pop up.” (+2 military—speed up certain parts of the world so that they turn into frozen wasteland over one month instead of 50 years). The Mu’lakka Lands: 19, 8, 4, 20 Nothing exciting goin’ on here, that’s for sure (+2 navies, -20 income). Stavengar: 15, 8, 12, 19 Ingrst chews on his flatbread contemplatively as the stranger across the table—a dwarf who obviously came from out of town and called himself Hansel, pulled out a small pad of paper out of his trenchcoat and began drawing. “What’re you workin’ on?” Ingrst asked him abruptly. The dwarf explained that he was sketching the sword that hung from the mantelpiece on the far side of the wall. This was a passable explanation to Ingrst, who went back to mulling over his beer. He was enlisting tomorrow, along with his six brothers. Intially, their father had forbidden them from participating in the war, and in dwarfen custom, the father’s word was law. But now, the homeland was at stake (2 armies raised, -20 income). He’d heard stories from up north. The dwarfen armies had broken at the bridge, and even now, Ashik outriders roamed the plains searching for the stragglers. Likely to take them up as slaves, by his reckoning. Damn Ashik never had any problem with taking advantage of dwarfen labor—more rowers on their blasted trade galleons. “Is something the matter?” the dwarf across the table asks him “You look sad all of a sudden.” Granted, there were plenty of sad faces in the tavern tonight, but Ingrst in particular had set his flatbread down on his plate, unfinished. “There’s nothing to be sad about,” Hansel says, plain-facedly. “This war will have a way of sorting itself out, and life in the general sense will continue.” Hansel reaches out his hand and touches Ingrist’s, and with a yell of surprise the dwarf pulls his arm back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” he yells, turning all the heads in the bar. Hansel’s face betrays no real emotion. “I… I’m sorry, I appear to have made a misstep. Please excuse me.” With that, the strange dwarf picks up his notepad and leaves the pub. Ingrst shakes his head and takes a final swig of his beer. He is surprised to find two small, unmarked gold coins resting at the bottom of the glass. Derult: 16, 5, 3, 20 GE001 has been listening with perfect, robotic attention to the radio transmissions coming in from Central over the last few weeks. He was capable of doing this even while multitasking or running seven or eight hundred tactical scenarios through his mind at once. Mu’lakkan naval forces were the wild card in this scenario. GE001 did not like wild cards. According to this morning’s transmissions, Central had overseen the creation of a new factory outside the supermassive heat dome. The facility manufactures only soldier module Derultians, but it was a step in rebuilding the former productivity and efficiency of what was once Irontown (you can raise armies and research military tech once again). The general and one of his aides were currently walking up the steps of the old Stavengarian Senate building, which had been blown to rubble by artillery fire. Much of the underground portions of the city were still held by dwarfs, but they were evacuating out day by day, fleeing to Illium or the countryside. Those that didn’t evacuate had been subjugated rather rapidly. There was no need for excess violence in scenarios like this. Of course, in any submissive society, subversive elements still had a high probability of manifestation. A dwarf pops out from behind a pillar on the Senate vista, cradling a rectangular object in both of his hands swaddled in brown cloth. It takes less than half a second for GE001 to identify the object as a magnet cannon based off its energy signature. In that half second, the dwarf braces the gun against his midsection and lets out a furious yell. GE001’s wrist has already split into two prongs, and a tiny beam of green light hits the dwarf, who drops the weapon—his scream turning into a crackling gurgle as his body turns entirely into hard, black stone. A carbon lock was a particularly vicious weapon to use against any kind of organic target. GE001 can feel several of his internal motors and pistons locking up from the energy overload. His aide—a beautiful brass model with not a spot of rust on her— turns to him. “Carbon locks are unauthorized modifications. Requesting confirmation from Central.” “Executive override, lieutenant,” GE001 says. “File MI8817.” The Derultian is silent for a moment, her internal motors whirring in contemplation. “File not f—“ The robot goes limp and splays down on the marble floor as GE001 deactivates her remotely. Kaz’ur: 14, 5, 4, 10 Hoping to have more non-Ashik troops enter the war on the Ardunne front, Jasura is disappointed that recruitment, particularly in Al Kerouine, Kaz’ur’s most diverse and populous city, has been going so slowly. Still, the Church could always be counted on to provide warriors, jostling amongst themselves for a chance to fight a religious crusade. For that was what this was, after all—the state was determined to spin it that way. Something about this makes Jasura feel a bit ill. Her father had been one of those same warriors once, hundreds of years ago, and so had she. Serving in a political role made you more cynical about things like this, she had realized. The dwarf population of southern Kaz’ur, as she understood it, was in a tight spot as well. The people of Stavengar were their old kin, but they had broken their oath to the Pan-Ardunne Defensive Organization and shattered the alliance, all for some vainglorious war. She could not understand dwarfs (1 army raised, -12 income). Thaamira and the Nameless One have made little to no progress on the sword, as is usual. Legarosan Grand Fleet: 5, 11, 9, 14 The rafts of New Haven pull alongside the shore of Ardunne after a long sea voyage. Jola had been given a house that dangles out on a wooden promontory—like the bowsprit of a ship—right over the murky shadow of the Big Kahuna below. Every day he would climb the ropes down and look upon the creature from the lower observation deck. The Kahuna was restless. These waters were a different temperature from the ones it was used to, and its pace had slowed recently. Ahead, held forward from a crane line dangling into the water, a massive ball of beef siding and rawhide, tied together with thick rope, served as a lure to keep the beast moving in the direction the city needed to go. The new land they had been promised by the Ashelani lay off this very coast—vast and open and with not a building or structure in sight. In the far reaches of the north, way past the coast, scouts find enough wood to build a few more ships for the fleet (-10 income). Expanding off the city and onto the coast will take time, however (-10 wealth, no success). Battles: A number of battles took place in the waning months of 4E472, among them: The Battle of Colonius Albus The Battle of the Derultian Straight The Sack of Mu'Manuk The 3rd Siege of Big Island The Siege of Central Category:The Ledgers of Baldr